Runaway sleigh
It was a gorgeous day with mild temperatures hovering around +6 degrees celsius, blue skies, bright sun, and our volunteers had been out “en force” to groom our many kilometers of trails through the forest. It does not get better than this and the footing was by far the best of the entire year. I cantered a stretch so long that I was literally out of breath at the end and begging my horse to walk. He finally did. Reluctantly. It was awesome.
My first canter stretch had me taking a curve on the trail to then come to a double team sleigh of beautiful haflingers head on. This team, and their driver, are regulars on this trail section and one of the more experienced teams we have. The owner does wedding processions with them.
This particular stretch we were on was a bit narrow to let me pass beside them, so I doubled back a few feet, asked Q to jump in the deep snowbank, turned around and signalled for them to pass me. And that is when I said:
“Wait. Can I take a picture?”
The driver said ok, started to pull for a stop, but I was too slow to get out my phone and the horses were now next to me and moving fast. So I waved them off and said:
“Too late, no worries!”
All I got was this blurry picture as one of the haflingers jumped to the right in the snow, got spooked, and proceeded to bolt down the trail. I watched them trotting fast down a curving slope with trees on each side. I yelled out:
“Are you ok?” They said, “yes, ok” as they kept trotting on.
So I figured the horses were a little fresh and I carried on my merry little way. I considered turning back and following them. And I heard some funny noises (a few yells, and a boom) through that part of the woods minutes after. But I figured that I was overreacting and that they were fine. But it bugged me.
My horse however was totally chill about the episode. So we cantered on down what I have dubbed the “snow highway” and Q was just perfect with his rocking horse gait.
As we returned home I made a detour to see if everything was indeed fine and maybe find the source of the boom noise I had heard. I expected to find a piece of sleigh that had been clipped by a tree. I crossed the road and saw nothing, figuring that the boom I had heard was the sleigh going over the snowbank on to the asphalt. Figures, my overactive imagination.
I crossed another rider friend with her energetic dutch warmblood mare on a narrow trail and doubled back telling her how magnificent the wide trails were today. Better than the narrow trails. I figured she was avoiding them because of the sleighs and was trying to encourage her to try them. And then she said:
“ I just crossed the patrollers and they said there was a sleigh incident on that trail. They were heading out there”
Surprised, but not. And I had just gone through that section myself and saw nothing! I headed back to the barn to see our barn owner and a few boarders loaded with ropes and walking towards the trails.
“What happened?”
Turns out that the horses got spooked by the sleigh banging their hocks as they went downhill on a sleigh they do not usually use. The driver got to the bottom of the hill, pulled the horses to a stop, got his passengers off (one of them was 6 months pregnant) for a photo (although I suspect it was more for an equipment check) and when the driver got off and put his reins on the sleigh, the horses took off down a narrow trail (not meant for sleighs and certainly not double teams).
The driver yelled out, but the horses were gone and he just figured they would go home on their own. But the horses got stuck halfway down between a bank of deep snow and a tree. One of the horses fell and the other just stood there stock still.
Our elderly japanese boarder found them as she was heading out on her steady trail horse.
She quickly doubled back to the barn and screamed for help. Our barn owner and a few other boarders ran to the site, unhitched the team and walked them home. The driver was still way back on the main trail calling for help from the patrollers and his wife.
I untacked Q mighty quick and ran to the site to help move the sleigh. I finally got a few pics, but not the ones I was expecting. It all happened very fast, and everyone was happy to help. The horses were safe and sound, minus a few scratches. The driver and passengers were fine. And even the sleigh was fine with a few loose screws. Easy to fix.
It was quite the bonding experience for our little horsey community.
And next time I hear boom, I will go investigate.
My first canter stretch had me taking a curve on the trail to then come to a double team sleigh of beautiful haflingers head on. This team, and their driver, are regulars on this trail section and one of the more experienced teams we have. The owner does wedding processions with them.
This particular stretch we were on was a bit narrow to let me pass beside them, so I doubled back a few feet, asked Q to jump in the deep snowbank, turned around and signalled for them to pass me. And that is when I said:
“Wait. Can I take a picture?”
The driver said ok, started to pull for a stop, but I was too slow to get out my phone and the horses were now next to me and moving fast. So I waved them off and said:
“Too late, no worries!”
“Are you ok?” They said, “yes, ok” as they kept trotting on.
So I figured the horses were a little fresh and I carried on my merry little way. I considered turning back and following them. And I heard some funny noises (a few yells, and a boom) through that part of the woods minutes after. But I figured that I was overreacting and that they were fine. But it bugged me.
My horse however was totally chill about the episode. So we cantered on down what I have dubbed the “snow highway” and Q was just perfect with his rocking horse gait.
I crossed another rider friend with her energetic dutch warmblood mare on a narrow trail and doubled back telling her how magnificent the wide trails were today. Better than the narrow trails. I figured she was avoiding them because of the sleighs and was trying to encourage her to try them. And then she said:
“ I just crossed the patrollers and they said there was a sleigh incident on that trail. They were heading out there”
Surprised, but not. And I had just gone through that section myself and saw nothing! I headed back to the barn to see our barn owner and a few boarders loaded with ropes and walking towards the trails.
“What happened?”
Turns out that the horses got spooked by the sleigh banging their hocks as they went downhill on a sleigh they do not usually use. The driver got to the bottom of the hill, pulled the horses to a stop, got his passengers off (one of them was 6 months pregnant) for a photo (although I suspect it was more for an equipment check) and when the driver got off and put his reins on the sleigh, the horses took off down a narrow trail (not meant for sleighs and certainly not double teams).
The driver yelled out, but the horses were gone and he just figured they would go home on their own. But the horses got stuck halfway down between a bank of deep snow and a tree. One of the horses fell and the other just stood there stock still.
Our elderly japanese boarder found them as she was heading out on her steady trail horse.
She quickly doubled back to the barn and screamed for help. Our barn owner and a few other boarders ran to the site, unhitched the team and walked them home. The driver was still way back on the main trail calling for help from the patrollers and his wife.
I untacked Q mighty quick and ran to the site to help move the sleigh. I finally got a few pics, but not the ones I was expecting. It all happened very fast, and everyone was happy to help. The horses were safe and sound, minus a few scratches. The driver and passengers were fine. And even the sleigh was fine with a few loose screws. Easy to fix.
It was quite the bonding experience for our little horsey community.
And next time I hear boom, I will go investigate.
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